Brookfield Touts High Office Rents, Google Hydroelectric Deal in Q2 Report

Despite a slight dip in earnings per share, Brookfield Corporation (BN) reported relatively solid earnings during the second quarter of 2025, ending the period with a record $177 billion of deployable capital, according to the company’s second-quarter earnings report released Thursday.

The Toronto-based investment firm reported a net income of $1.1 billion during the second quarter, a significant increase from $215 million during the previous quarter and from $285 million during the same period last year, the report shows.

Brookfield also recorded revenue of $18.1 billion during the quarter, an increase from $17.9 billion the prior quarter but a drop from $23.1 billion the same time in 2024.

The company’s earnings per share dropped slightly during the second quarter to 88 cents per share, a decrease from 98 cents per share during the first quarter and $1.35 per share during the same period last year.

Nicholas Goodman, president and chief financial officer at Brookfield, said during an earnings call after the results’ release that the reduction in cash distributions was due to a “slowdown in home sales” during the second quarter and several asset sales the firm made during the period.

Goodman also pointed to Brookfield’s solid leasing numbers during the quarter as a sign of improvement. The company signed nearly 4 million square feet of office and retail leases during the quarter, with its office and retail portfolios 94 percent and 97 percent leased, respectively.

In fact, the firm is close to signing a new lease in New York City for space with an average asking rent of around $300 per square foot, Goodman said.

“As those leases start to work their way through earnings, [and] as we burn off the rent freeze and they start to work their way through earnings, we have a tremendous tailwind for FFO coming from these assets,” Goodman said during the call, referencing funds from operations. “On top of that, the increased pace of monetizations is going to bring significant capital and cashflow back to the business.”

Brookfield also announced Thursday a three-for-two stock split to “ensure its shares remain accessible to individual shareholders and to improve the liquidity of shares,” according to the report.

There was also good news on the acquisition and technology fronts for Brookfield.

Last week, Canada’s Brookfield Wealth Solutions acquired Just Group, a U.K.-based pension firm specializing in risk transfer solutions, for $3.2 billion as part of its expansion into the U.K. market, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, Brookfield signed an agreement with Google during the second quarter to deliver up to 3,000 megawatts of hydroelectric capacity across the U.S.

As far as AI, the Brookfield leaders said the firm is launching an AI infrastructure strategy to develop large-scale factories combining power, data shells and equipment.

“When we launch these new strategies, it can be very appealing to some of our largest shareholders around the world, and this is obviously an asset class they’re very focused on,” Goodman said during the call. “So we are engaged with a number of our largest clients.”

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.